ALi to raise P60 B for debt payments, capex this year

Property giant Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) plans to raise P60 billion this year for its capital expenditures and debt obligations, a top company official said.

The company plans to issue P22 billion in fixed-rate retail bonds, said CFO Augusto Bengzon, adding that the bonds may be issued as early as next month.

“It’s going to be a very busy year for us,” Bengzon said in a briefing last week.

The retail bond offering will be split between five-year and 10-year bonds.

The remaining P38 billion to P40 billion capital will be raised through bank borrowings.

Proceeds of the bond offer will be used for capital expenditures while the bank borrowings will be used for maturing and short-term debt payments.

For this year, ALI plans to launch P110 billion worth of residential developments and possibly bring this up to P130 billion if the market is strong, its president and CEO Bernard Vincent Dy said.

For this year, ALI will launch four mixed-use estates. These will be in Batangas, Bulacan, and Mindanao.

This is double the number of estates ALI launched last year – the Areza at Lipa City, Batangas, and Crossroads at Plaridel, Bulacan.

Areza, a 92-hectare development, is ALI’s first master-planned, mixed-use estate in Batangas while Crossroads is an 83-hectare integrated mixed-use master-planned estate with residential and commercial components in the rising enterprise zone on the eastern side of Bulacan.

Dy said ALI is optimistic of the business environment amid the recovery of the economy.

Last year, the property giant reported a net income of P18.6 billion, up 52 percent year-on-year.

The company expects to sustain the momentum this year and has set P85 billion in capital expenditures, up 18 percent from P72 billion in 2022.

ALI raked in consolidated revenues of P126.2 billion last year, 19 percent more year-on-year.

Capital expenditures for 2022 reached P72.4 billion, of which 50 percent was spent on residential projects, 19 percent on land acquisition, 16 percent on estate development, 11 percent on commercial projects, and four percent for other purposes.